Review – Jinn and Juice (The Jinni, Book 1) by Nicole Peeler (3/5 stars)

Reading Level: Adult
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Length: 384 pages
Publisher: Orbit
Release Date: April 7, 2015
ISBN-13:978-0316407359
Stand Alone or Series: 1st book in the Jinni series
Source: Bought
Rating: 3/5 stars

“Cursed to be a jinni for a thousand years, Lyla nears the end of her servitude—only to be bound once again against her will. Will she risk all to be human?

Born in ancient Persia, Lyla turned to her house Jinni, Kouros, for help escaping an arranged marriage. Kouros did make it impossible for her to marry—by cursing Lyla to live a thousand years as a Jinni herself.

If she can remain unBound, Lyla’s curse will soon be over. But Ozan Sawyer, a Magi with the ability to See, Call, and Bind jinn has other plans.
Oz needs Lyla to help him penetrate Pittsburgh’s steel-soaked magic, a juice potent but poisonous to supernatural creatures, in order to find a missing girl with her own mysterious connection to Kouros. Unfortunately for Lyla, becoming Bound to Oz may risk more than just her chance to be human once more—it could risk her very soul…”

Previous to this book I had read Peeler’s Jane True series which I really enjoyed. I have had this book on my “to be read” pile for awhile. For the most part I enjoyed this book. It was a fun and light urban fantasy read with a touch of romance. This is supposed to be the first book in a series but I havn’t been able to find any information on if/when the second book will release.

I liked some things about this book. Having our heroine be a 1000 year old jinni is a fun concept and something (that while done in urban fantasy before) isn’t done all that often. I do wish that Peeler has capitalized on this ancient age thing a bit more and given us some interesting stories from Lyla’s past.

I also really enjoyed the different Immunda we run into. The Immunda are non-pureblood supernatural creatures and were really interesting. In some parts this reminded me a bit of Seanan McGuire’s Incryptid series; light-hearted with interesting monsters.

I do have a couple complaints as well. I did think that Lyla came across as a bit naive and immature considering how old she was. I also thought the story was predictable. Additionally I think this would have made a wonderful stand alone book and didn’t really like the ending much. Peeler could have ended this one chapter earlier and it would have been a wonderful and cute stand alone.

Overall this was a cute and light-hearted urban fantasy read. I enjoyed the that the main heroine was a jinni and all the world-building around Immunda and Purebloods. I thought the heroine was too immature for her age though and found the story to be fairly simple and predictable. If you are a Peeler fan you will probably enjoy this.

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
– Mount TBR Reading Challenge
– You Read How Many Books? Reading Challenge
– Flights of Fantasy Reading Challenge